A long term analysis of NBA officials and the fouls they call (or don't). Inspired by Bill Simmons and the horrible officiating in the NBA.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Cavs/Magic Game 6 (3rd Quarter)

After the end of the 3rd, the big problem I have with the officials so far is not the amount of fouls they have called (only 28 in 3 quarters), but their consistency in letting the players know how much contact will warrant a foul down low. You can the same amount of contact be called a foul on one play and not another, and it's messing with James as he is getting the same amount of contact every time he drives, yet comes out with a foul half the time, which must be frustrating as he is getting mixed messages from the refs. Consistency is key.

Here are my time stamps

3rd Quarter10:39 Hard to tell from the camera angle, but it looked like Turkoglu barely touched Lebron on the called reach in (Perhaps we are seeing the start of the refs giving James calls after Mike Brown complained)8:21 Alston barely touches Williams on the called shooting foul (The refs need to make up their minds, Lebron has been getting the same contact all night, but not getting any calls)3:52 Horrible blocking call on Howard as he defended James (That was a make-up call for the hits he took early in the night)1:26 West gets contact with Howard, no call (Refs are calling a very inconsistent game)